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Tristram Hunt
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Ten Cities That Made an Empire Hardcover – International Edition, July 29, 2014

by Tristram Hunt (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 116 ratings
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From Tristram Hunt, award-winning author of The Frock-Coated Communist and leading UK politician, Ten Cities that Made an Empire presents a new approach to Britain's imperial past through the cities that epitomised it Since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997 and the end days of Empire, Britain's colonial past has been the subject of passionate debate. Tristram Hunt goes beyond the now familiar arguments about Empire being good or bad and adopts a fresh approach to Britain's empire and its legacy. Through an exceptional array of first-hand accounts and personal reflections, he portrays the great colonial and imperial cities of Boston, Bridgetown, Dublin, Cape Town, Calcutta, Hong Kong, Bombay, Melbourne, New Delhi, and twentieth-century Liverpool: their architecture, culture, and society balls; the famines, uprisings and repressions which coursed through them; the primitive accumulation and ghostly bureaucracy which ran them; the British supremacists and multicultural trailblazers who inhabited them. From the pioneers of early America to the builders of modern India, from west to east and back again, Hunt follows the processes of exchange and adaptation that collectively moulded the colonial experience and which in their turn transformed the culture, economy and identity of the British Isles. This vivid and richly detailed imperial story, located in ten of the most important cities which the Empire constructed, demolished, reconstructed and transformed, allows us a new understanding of the British Empire's influence upon the world and the world's influence upon it. TRISTRAM HUNT is one of Britain's best known historians. Since 2010 he has been the MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central, and in October 2013 was made Shadow Secretary of State for Education. He is a senior lecturer in British history at Queen Mary, University of London, and has written numerous series for radio and television. He is also a regular contributor to the Times, Guardian and Observer. His previous books include The English Civil War at First Hand, Building Jerusalem, and The Frock-Coated Communist: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels, which was published in more than a dozen languages. Praise for The Frock-Coated Communist: 'Beautifully written and consistently engaging' - Independent 'An excellent book ... Hunt has a mastery of 19th-century British culture and European political thought' - Robert Service, Sunday Times 'Thoughtful and engaging' - Telegraph Review
Previous page
  1. Print length
    384 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Allen Lane
  4. Publication date
    July 29, 2014
  5. Dimensions
    6.5 x 1.5 x 9.55 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    184614325X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1846143250
  8. See all details
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About the Author

Tristram Hunt is one of Britain's best known young historians. Since 2010 he has been the MP for Stoke-on-Trent Central, and in October 2013 was made Shadow Secretary of State for Education. He is a lecturer in British history at Queen Mary, University of London, and has written numerous series for radio and television. He is also a regular contributor to the Times, Guardian and Observer. His previous books include The English Civil War at First Hand, Building Jerusalem, and The Frock-Coated Communist: The Revolutionary Life of Friedrich Engels, which was published in more than a dozen languages.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Allen Lane (July 29, 2014)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 384 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 184614325X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1846143250
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.21 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.5 x 9.55 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 116 ratings

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Tristram Hunt

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Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
116 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Jeanie Light
4.0 out of 5 stars Facinating and well worth a read, the author manages ...
Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2014
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Facinating and well worth a read, the author manages to get the feel of the cities in the era very well, you can see the how various developments affected the cities and how changes in society had ripple effects through out the world.
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John O Meara
4.0 out of 5 stars ... the wealthiest nation on the planet by just being nice.
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2016
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They didn't become the wealthiest nation on the planet by just being nice.
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andrew
3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
Reviewed in the United States on December 4, 2016
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Interesting
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FictionFan
4.0 out of 5 stars The sun never sets...
Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2014
Tristram Hunt, historian and Member of (the British) Parliament, has chosen an innovative way to look at the history and legacy of the British Empire by considering ten of the cities that played important roles in the two centuries when the Empire was at its height. There can be a tendency to think that the Empire came into being at some defined point, existed for a while, and then ceased. Hunt’s city tour gives a much clearer picture of how the Empire was always evolving, always changing, as global events raised and lowered the importance of products and markets – and he makes it very clear that the Empire’s primary purpose was indeed economic rather than political, at least initially. Hunt admits that there were many other cities with as good a claim to be included as the ones he chose, but his purpose is to show how the Empire shifted geographically and politically over time and his choices work well for this purpose.

Starting with Boston, Hunt sets the pattern he subsequently follows with each city. He gives the reasons for the city’s founding (or colonisation if it already existed), explains its importance to the development of the Empire, describes the culture of the society and discusses how the city developed physically in terms of its architecture and industrial or trading infrastructure.

The book is not immensely long, so each city only gets around forty pages. This is long enough to give a reasonable overview of the city’s place within the Empire, but clearly Hunt has had to set himself some limitations to keep the length down. The major limitation for me was that he only told us about each city at the point that it was at its height in terms of Empire. As the Empire rolled on and away, we aren’t given much feel for what happened to the cities afterwards. This is truer of the early cities more than the late ones – Boston is more or less dropped at the point of Independence while the current political situation of Hong Kong is briefly discussed. At first, I found this abrupt departure from each city very disconcerting, but as the book went on it became clear that Hunt was portraying the Empire like a wave or perhaps a bandwagon that rolled into town, changed everything, and then rolled on. I found that in the end it did give me a much clearer picture of how all the various geographic bits fitted in at different points in history.

So from America, Hunt takes us to the West Indies, stops off in Dublin, and then heads east – to Africa, China and, of course, India. India’s importance to the Empire is indicated by the fact that three of its cities are covered – Calcutta, Bombay and New Delhi, showing how the Empire in India developed from an initial trading zone to the full scale colonial undertaking it eventually became before gaining independence. Hunt balances the book well between the colonies and the Dominions, showing how the Dominions were seen as a means of disseminating British values and of building an interconnected anglicised world that would come to the support of the mother-country in times of need (as indeed they did in both WW1 and WW2). He finishes off with a look at Liverpool, the only British city to merit a chapter, showing its importance as a trading hub under the Empire and discussing the economically devastating effects, still being dealt with today, of the end of Empire.

While I was glad that the book was kept down to a reasonable length, I’d have liked to learn more about what happened to the cities post-Empire, and I’d have been happy to sacrifice some of the architectural detail to make way for that. However, I think that’s probably more a matter of personal preference than a criticism. All-in-all, I found this an interesting and well written read that took an innovative approach to telling the much-told story of the Empire, and recommend it to anyone interested in knowing more about how the Empire worked. I read an advance copy of the book, so can’t comment on the illustrations, but I believe there are over forty colour plates plus maps in the final copy, which I imagine would greatly enhance the enjoyment of the book.

The Ten Cities are: Boston, Bridgetown, Dublin, Cape Town, Calcutta, Hong Kong, Bombay, Melbourne, New Delhi, Liverpool.

NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Penguin Books (UK).
15 people found this helpful
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John Fitzpatrick
3.0 out of 5 stars Cities of the Evil Empire
Reviewed in the United States on July 14, 2015
This is a series of portraits of cities that were of great importance in the days of the British Empire, such as Cape Town, Bombay and Hong Kong.

Each chapter follows the same pattern, presenting a bit of history, economics, architecture and a few portraits of leading characters.

The author, Tristam Hunt, is a Labour MP and, like many post-imperialist British observers, has mixed feelings about the Empire, recognizing that it was based on aggressive exploitation of other cultures but stressing what he regards as the positive points.

Fortunately, Hunt is more realistic and honest than Niall Ferguson whose "Empire: How Britain Made the Modern World" is an insult to the millions who were exploited by British imperialism.

Hunt starts off with Boston and brings his cycle to an end with a portrayal of Liverpool that reads like a piece of marketing, projecting a glowing future for the city.

However, these individual chapters do not really come together to make a satisfactory whole and it is a book to be sampled in bites.

Furthermore, I would have thought places like New York, Johannesburg and Singapore were more important than Dublin or Melbourne.
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Colin P.
1.0 out of 5 stars English Arrogance
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2020
Glasgow was the second city of the Empire and didn’t even make the list. Typical Arrogant English imbecile.
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Top reviews from other countries

Edward B. Crutchley
5.0 out of 5 stars A remarkable book
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 10, 2019
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With little more than forty pages for his subjects, Tristram Hunt pulls off a remarkable feat of scope for each. The book appears highly researched. He employs plenty of contemporary quotes to help detail the (mostly) 18th and 19th century coming to prominence and evolution of the ten cities he has chosen. We wade variously through squalor, slavery, opium, East India Company monopoly, political troubles and conflicts, gradual urbanization, the emergence of more ‘civilized’ colonial rule as exponentially increasing trade generates enough wealth for prime movers and philanthropists to make and leave their mark. In the chapter on Melbourne there is a (timely) segment on Joseph Chamberlain’s vision of reducing barriers and expanding trade within the British Empire in order to accelerate growth. The author talks extensively about architecture, municipal, sanitary and civic progress and the individuals involved. The penultimate chapter deals with the creation of New Delhi, a last throw in the face of increasing demands for independence and the breakup of the Empire. The final chapter on Liverpool describes the effects of decline in trade as the Empire becomes a Commonwealth, Britain deindustrializes, and the Common Market draws British port activity to its southeast. It ends with the recent regeneration of Liverpool assisted by funds from the EU and the Chinese for the next phase of international trade. The book, which has around 60 illustrations, many in colour, would be a great asset to accompany any visit.
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Larry
5.0 out of 5 stars The benefits of the British Empire
Reviewed in Canada on June 12, 2015
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A terrific historical perspective on the British Empire warts and all and its impact on the 10 cities referenced.Too often the benefits of the British
Empire and only the negatives highlighted.Not so in the compelling read.
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C. F. Harvey
4.0 out of 5 stars Ten Cities that Made an Empire
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 10, 2014
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I enjoyed this book on ten cities created by the British Empire. Tristram Hunt steers a middle course, outlining both the economic benefits brought by the British but also the terrible cost - the slave trade and famines in India. With the exception of New Delhi, all the cities were originally founded because of their value as harbours. He describes in detail the commercial life of the cities and the architecture that resulted from it.
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Gazza
5.0 out of 5 stars Ten Cities that Made an Empire
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 15, 2022
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An excellent book on the British Empire. Engaging throughout, packed with information and beautifully written. I loved it and will be seeking out further books by Tristram Hunt.

I hope you find my review helpful.
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Richard Cohen
3.0 out of 5 stars This is view of the British Empire does give some ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 29, 2014
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This is view of the British Empire does give some novel perspectives but I feel that at times there is a tendency to lapse into nostalgia for what is in fact spread crude capitalism and masked raw exploitation under the guise of a civilizing mission.
2 people found this helpful
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